I'm thinking the head top left with the upperbody armor of top right and lower body of the bottom. I'll be designing the shields more over the next couple days and putting it all together for a few more sketches. I'll also be designing alot of creatures in her arsenal of summons as well, the shadowy dragon-like things are just to show that she's a summoner.

She is Klauzniffia, the Summoner. She is a warlord specializing in defensive(duel wielding shields hah) fighting techniques. The artifact shields amplify her summoning ability. What she personally lacks in offensive abilities and magical abilities her summoned creatures more than make up for.

In terms of gameplay I imagine the game as a 3rd person action adventure style game where you have to keep up with what to summon when and how much. The summoning taxes Klauz but when summoning less powerful creatures she can summon more and more, while more powerful require more energy to maintain. While the shields are seperated she must summon creatures in even numbers. When the shields combine(I'll explain this more when I actually design the shields.) she is able to summon more powerful creatures in odd numbers.

I see it as opposing factions warriors and machines are attacking and a big part of the game would be dismissing and summoning the right summons for the job...like at one point you might want 10 wolves to overrun your target but seconds later you might be hurt and in need of some defensive creatures so you have to dismiss the wolves and summon a giant tree to protect you and a magical faery to heal your wounds. But you can't stay defensive too long because more enemies are closing in! So now you have to hurry and combine your shields to summon a giant earth elemental to stomp on the incoming force!

All the while you're running around fighting for yourself as well! Could start slow with not as many summons and gather the abilities to summon more powerful creatures and unique creatures with useful abilities as you move through the game.

eMysfit

02-19-2008, 07:26 PM

http://www.merrill3d.com/klauzniffiad.jpg

Duel shields!
I think her design is finished here. Next I'll be designing a couple of creatures for her to command. Then off to colors! Model sheets and final illustration(s) to follow hopefully.
I think for simplicities sake I'm going to just keep the shields as doubles instead of doing the merge together idea.

The summons are going to be a big part of her design. I have in mind a pair pattern. a pair of creatures for different purposes. Like an infiltration/stealth pair that are small fast and stealthy to retrieve info and such for her while she stays hidden, a power pair that'll be strong and offensive physically for melee battles, a magical pair...etcetc

I'm not sure how in depth with that I'll get though since she'll probably only have one or two creatures with her in the final pictures and stuff.

Nihilicon

02-21-2008, 06:56 AM

The dual shields is an interseting idea - maybe they could link together in some way?

Midost

02-21-2008, 07:03 AM

<3 the dual shields.

eMysfit

02-21-2008, 02:56 PM

I actually mentioned above about the shields linking together. I even drew a little bit of an idea for it, but in the end i decided to just stick it to being duel shields...for simplicity.

Here are some summon ideas. Just more rough sketching heh. Klauzniffia is in there to show approximate scale.

The dragon is a pretty powerful summon, and it shoots water through the tendrils coming out of the mouth and then freezes it or whatever it wants just about with it's ice breath. The other is kind of a bear with flaming fur running down it's back. It's basically just physically powerful though and stampedes through the enemies. I might even just do away with the flames... I also might just make the dragon breath flames and the stuff it shoots out can be oil to increase the damage from the breath....still not entirely sure. I might end up designing a few more summons too...so no gaurentee these will even be in the final image.

http://www.merrill3d.com/summonsideas.jpg

freemn

02-21-2008, 03:01 PM

nice work, i like ur idea with ice breath ... :thumbsup:

eMysfit

02-22-2008, 03:47 PM

Thanks. Here's a kinda...'springing into action' picture I drew today. I think I'll try and color this one up.

http://www.merrill3d.com/kpluss.jpg

Ravenslayer

02-22-2008, 04:11 PM

nice concept so far
i have an idea for the shields
have you ever seen the movie constantine, well the moment he holds his arms together with the tattoos and says "into the light i command thee". here's what i mean http://leslievdb.dommel.be/DWIII/constantine.jpg
Well maybe you could do somthing like that with the shields that combined they make a larger shield that can attack with a shockwave of magic or something

just an idea but anyway nice work
keep it up

eMysfit

02-23-2008, 03:54 PM

I like the idea. Loved the movie constantine. I'm not sure if I can do the shockwave thing and keep the summons though. Since she's a warlord summoner I think she has to kind of be non-magical, while her artifacts allow her to summon the stuff.

I've actually thought about changing her to have an elemental magic instead of the summons. Either ice or lightning probably. I could do the shockwave then. Could also concentrate on just her then. But at the same time I like the summons. So I'm not entirely sure where I'll go with it.

I'm also thinking about giving a 3d entry a shot so I kinda don't want to change her and maybe carry over the new ideas to that. Though my 3d skills are pretty subpar and I'd be using the free program 'blender' since I don't have access to anything else anymore. So I'll probably stick with the summons and try to keep my 3d entry simplistic.

StacyOgie

02-23-2008, 04:03 PM

Nice start and you have an interesting character. I think that the length of the skirt just seems to "get in the way" but its nice. The beasts however seem a little generic but that's just my opinion. I want see how she'll turn out.

--Stacy

Swizzle

02-23-2008, 04:19 PM

I agree with the others; having dual shields is a neat idea. Are you planning on giving them different features or shapes? It might be interesting to see asymmetrical shields.

eMysfit

02-26-2008, 02:03 PM

I started playing Lineage 2 this week. It's sucking my free time away! haha.

Stacy: you are definately right about the skirt. I'm working on a new overall design for her and this is one thing I'm going to try and change for sure. And the beasts are kind of generic but I'm really thinking about just doing an element or something instead of the summons so that'll take care of that heh.

Swizzle: I honestly hadn't thought of making them asymmetrical at all, but now that you mention that, it is really appealing to me. I think that's another thing I'll be focusing on in the next design. And if I choose an element instead of the summons I have some ideas for the shields to interact with one another that would be alot cooler probably with different shields.

Thanks for the suggestions and comments. Next post I'll have something sketched up instead of just words...just gotta put away the lineage 2...

eMysfit

02-27-2008, 07:15 PM

Alright. I started trying to design shields for her. Personally I'm kind of leaning toward the void/darkness pair. But I'd really like some other's opinions so please let me know what you think.

The top pair is Void/Darkness. The void shield holds a kind of black hole prison in which the circle things around it can basically suck anything into. The darkness shield is half alive with the demonic tenticles flailing around(kinda got the idea from the hellboy demons heh.) and she can channel dark energy through the bottom to kind of blast people.

The next is Ice/Water. The ice shield is kind of a normal shield but encased in ice to be even stronger plus emits a freezing energy that can freeze things...duh. The Water shield generates it's own water, those are kinda like mini canals on it. She can force more water to the point of basically causing massive waterfalls out of the shield. Then she can freeze it!

The next is Air/Lightning. This is my least favorite... but the wind shield is basically constantly spinning blades so not only will she block with the shield but she'll slice up anything coming at her too. The lightning shield is kind of offensive. if she throws a punch the segmented area flys out to a short distance basically extending her reach to about 8 feet and channels the lightning through the rods and such.

The final one is the summoning pair or just one. It's basically the shield that I originaly designed. But I was thinking of doing away with the summons and giving her the other one as a kind of gargoylesque idea, where the little guy jumps off her shield and fights with her, and the normal shield is used to control him. I guess I could also just double the normal one still and let her summon other things too.

http://www.merrill3d.com/shields.jpg

eMysfit

02-27-2008, 07:19 PM

Here is the redesign of the lowerbody. The little spiky things off the boots are more like an armor peice, shielding her thighs. The skirt is split now a back and front peice. I was also thinking about adding a cape(nothing too fancy but like shown.) Any feedback is appreciated. The plate thing over her crotch is also where I've decided to put the insignia. I didn't really take the time to draw it out but you can kinda see it haha.

http://www.merrill3d.com/boot.jpg

eMysfit

03-02-2008, 06:29 PM

Since nobody replied I think I'll just go back to the original summoner idea. Not sure what I'm going to do for the shields exactly but I'll be working on that soon.

I found an old graphire tablet that I bought years ago and decided to give it a go. This isn't done yet but I think this is the summon I'm going to give her. It's a cerberus like monster. It's size is going to be pretty big, like she is about the size of one of it's legs. It's more reptilian than wolf and the three heads will each have a different attribute. I'm thinking the right head will have poison, the left breath fire, and I havn't really thought of the middle one, but I like the void shield idea, so I might make it do that, like be able to suck anything into a black hole prison that I might put ont he belly area or something. I'm thinking of building up a saddle and giving it some armor as well so not only can it fight but it could double as a mount.

http://www.merrill3d.com/sabultimawip1.jpg

eMysfit

03-03-2008, 08:02 PM

I gave him a generic name. Saberus Ultima. I'll color it tomorrow probably. Then back to the main character. I'm having fun with this tablet. I think I'm just going to leave him in this kind of primal state instead of the armor/saddle idea. I've also got an idea for the girl's shields and the final image...if I can put it on 'paper' the way it is in my head.

http://www.merrill3d.com/saberusultimabw.jpg

walrus

03-04-2008, 02:15 PM

This is looking good! Sorry to not have commented on your thread earlier, as you were so kind as to add notes to mine... twice! Anyhow...

I love the creature! Especially this last rendering of him - he's really coming together. You commented on his being more reptillian than wolf-like, and it might be fun to push that even more. You have time: Before you just settle on how he is now, maybe experiment with making him even more reptillian: More scales, more of the face shape of a lizard, flatter heads like a snake...? Remember, Google Image Search is your best friend for cases like these: Just search for "lizard" (or snake or whatever) and you can pretty quickly find a bunch of great pictures to give you new ideas. The more you borrow from real-world animal anatomy, the more it will make your creature seem more plausible.

As for the heads having different powers, I'm not so sure about that: The rules were pretty specific about not mixing powers: A character could have Void, or Light, or Summoning, but not mixes of the two. If she can summon a creature that has other powers... well, that's skirting the rules along a pretty fine line. You might want to consider playing it safe and just have her with summoning powers. The beastie is pretty fearsome all by itself without needing magic as well.

As for the shields, I'm glad you chose summoning as that's one of my favorite sield designs. I like the Darkness and Summoning shields because they're not just plain shields, each incorporates some organic (or organic-looking) element, which is kind of unique, and worth exploring more. In facr, what if her armor incorporated similar elements? Like those tentacles on the Darkness shield, what if they were her shoulder pads?

Anyhow, just some ideas. Good luck with it all! And thanks again for your input!

-mike

XP-58

03-05-2008, 01:06 AM

I read before at GA that "summoned creatures can use whatever natural talents they have. So if you summon a demon, it can use fire. If you someone a water elemental, it can use water"

I remember this because somebody said something like this before - If I can only have one element for the whole thing, then the summoner will summon a creature that can summon another creature that also can summon ..... (since "summoning" is an element) :D Though however, never encountered anybody asked about multiple elements in one summon. IMO if it's the creature's natural talents then it shouldn't be interfering with the rules. Well you can ask at GA (http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2193) though.

Anyway, I also like the summoning shield and the reptilian choice for cerberus. Keep up the good work!

walrus, thanks for the suggestions! I was thinking about maybe making the heads more reptilian like you say then have long strands of hair coming through scaley like natural armor on the necks/back. I want it to be kind of reptilian but at the same time still be cerberus like with the wolf elements. I looked at some google lizard pics for refs but fell asleep before I did anything and now I have to go to work! yey...

xp-58, thanks for the explaination. I've been kind of wondering that.

dmightyone, thanks!

The way I was thinking of the summons having powers is that the rules say the artifact lets the character themselves use a power. So logically if you're a summoner and you summon an ice monster, the ice monster has the power of ice, but you still have only the power to summon...just like I was kind of thinking it'd probably be allowable to have say...an earth mage summon an earth elemental because essentially they control earth so it's earth magic making the elemental not summoning magic....not really officially worded like this but this is how I was going about it.

With that said...I'm actually thinking of not using the elemental like powers after all. Still will probably make them do stuff other than be a big powerful beast. Might keep the poison idea though, it being reptilian and all.

eMysfit

03-07-2008, 10:42 AM

So I drew her with the void/darkness shields because I'm still trying to get used to this tablet. I've never really used one but I'm getting the hang of it and really liking it.

I was actually thinking of maybe going void/darkness with these shields and the ideas mentioned above, but still keeping the beast, but making it smaller and putting a saddle on it as her mount. Since mounts are allowed.

i worked on the cerberus guy trying to make him more lizard like with snake heads but I really didn't like it. I'll probably go back to working on him more later but I wanted to break and draw her again since I havn't done anything digitally with her yet. I might go ahead and color this one too so I can get down the color scheme. The insignia is going on her cape and croch.

http://www.merrill3d.com/bwklauz.jpg

eMysfit

03-09-2008, 11:21 AM

color scheme idea...not sure if it'll change or not.

http://www.merrill3d.com/Klauzniffiacolorz.jpg

eMysfit

03-20-2008, 08:12 PM

This is the way i've decided to go. Beast is out. Darkness/void. I finished the wings(havn't seen them since the first post heh, but they're there!) And the shield design I changed a little, because I'm going to just double it. She still has the void prison on the shields and now they both can suck anything into them through the 'mouth'.

I'm running out of time so I'll probably go ahead and use what I've done now and start on the model sheets. I also already have the final illustration pose I think. I'll probably update again within the next week...if i can get some time.

http://www.merrill3d.com/designz.jpg

eMysfit

03-28-2008, 01:54 PM

Compiled all my relevant sketches into the Concept Sheet. It was more of a task than I thought it would be to get them all into a small area together without too much unwanted overlapping and such haha. I'll probably work on the model sheet next. Deadline is coming up ><! Though history has shown they tend to extend it heh, but I don't think it's a good idea to rely on that.

http://www.merrill3d.com/klauzniffiaconceptsheet.jpg

eMysfit

03-29-2008, 07:42 PM

http://www.merrill3d.com/modelsheet1.jpg
The model sheet so far. Front Back. Probably will do side view tomorrow. fitting onto a 1000x1000 sheet is going to be awkward so I'll probably do something else to divide the sheet in fourths or do the side view and do the shield front/side views or something to put above the figures to even it out. I'll prob update again tomorrow after work.

And a note on the wings..they flap quickly like a bees so she can fly, but they're not very strong so she's not exactly a distance flyer. Being a 'fallen angel' she has lost her angelic wing span. The bottom ones actually can be used as a weapon, by stabbing surprisingly with the pointed ends.

eMysfit

03-30-2008, 08:53 PM

I think this'll be my final model sheet. Im not very good at making collages heh. But I think this covers it well enough. Has the 3 views and a side/front view of the shield, I'd think that'd be enough maybe. Wish it could be any size instead of 1000x1000. Would be much nicer to line the 3 figures side by side for a longer picture I think.

http://www.merrill3d.com/klauzniffiamodelsheet.jpg

eMysfit

04-11-2008, 07:33 PM

Final Illustration - Used a FF: Advent Children screen shot as ref for background. I know the setting of the competition says no technology, but I was thinking and where the machine planet is, there probably would still be buildings and such that look of technological ages. Not random huts or something. I like how it turned out I think though I don't think I have any kind of real chance against some of the other entries I've seen around haha.

http://www.merrill3d.com/klauzniffiafinalshot.jpg

Midost

04-26-2008, 05:20 PM

Hey man, congrats on finishing! I'd have to say my favorite part about this piece are the wings. They are a neat design, and I like how they curve around and frame the character.

eMysfit

04-29-2008, 01:04 PM

Thanks alot! After going through most of the comp with little advice/comments I was pretty discouraged. I always like to finish things I start though so I did! haha.

Thanks for the comment, means alot.

CGTalk Moderation

04-29-2008, 01:04 PM

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.